A review of the book 'Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire' written by Julia Baird.
From International New York Times columnist Julia Baird comes a magnificent biography of Queen Victoria. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, Victoria: The Queen is a stunning new portrait of the real woman behind the myth a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.
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Coming up: A review of the book 'Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire' written by Julia Baird.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the author or publisher.
Little bit about the author:
Julia Baird is a journalist, broadcaster, and author based in Sydney, Australia. She is a columnist for the International New York Times and host of The Drum on ABC TV (Australia). Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly, and Harper’s Bazaar. She has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Sydney. In 2005, Baird was a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, after which she spent several years as deputy editor of Newsweek in New York.
Let me read a brief description of the book:
QUOTE
When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would threaten many of Europe’s monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public’s expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger tracts of the globe. In a world where women were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand.
Fifth in line to the throne at the time of her birth, Victoria was an ordinary woman thrust into an extraordinary role. As a girl, she defied her mother’s meddling and an adviser’s bullying, forging an iron will of her own. As a teenage queen, she eagerly grasped the crown and relished the freedom it brought her. At twenty, she fell passionately in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, eventually giving birth to nine children. She loved sex and delighted in power. She was outspoken with her ministers, overstepping conventional boundaries and asserting her opinions. After the death of her adored Albert, she began a controversial, intimate relationship with her servant John Brown. She survived eight assassination attempts over the course of her lifetime. And as science, technology, and democracy were dramatically reshaping the world, Victoria was a symbol of steadfastness and security—queen of a quarter of the world’s population at the height of the British Empire’s reach.
Drawing on sources that include fresh revelations about Victoria’s relationship with John Brown, Julia Baird brings vividly to life the fascinating story of a woman who struggled with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family, raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents, combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for meaning. This sweeping, page-turning biography gives us the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times, a Victoria who endured.
UNQUOTE
This biography is not just a chronicle of Queen Victoria’s reign, but a study of her character, contradictions, and evolving roles as monarch, wife, mother, and widow.
It also explores her often fraught relationships with her children, her advisors, and the political figures of her day — including Prime Ministers like Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone — illustrating her surprising political acumen and influence.
At over 500 pages, excluding 118 pages of detailed Notes and 25 pages of Bibliography, the biography is lengthy, but never dull. Each phase of Victoria’s life is given thoughtful attention, from her lonely childhood to her ascension at age 18, through her passionate marriage, enduring grief, and final decades as the grand matriarch of a vast empire.
The author does not shy away from Victoria’s flaws — her often conservative and contradictory stances on women’s roles, for instance — but treats them with nuance, allowing readers to see the monarch in all her humanity.
The book covers a very long period of the nineteenth century and as Mark Twain rightly said:
QUOTE
“British history is two thousand years old, and yet in a good many ways the world has moved further ahead since the Queen was born than it moved in all the rest of the two thousand years put together…. She has seen more things invented than any other monarch that ever lived.”
UNQUOTE
When Victoria was born, food was cooked in open fireplaces, horses carried messages, half of the population was illiterate, and a narrow band of property owners were the only ones with political power. By the end of her life in 1901, people traveled by subway, telegraphs shot messages across oceans, education was compulsory, and women had some basic rights.
Final Verdict:
Overall, Victoria: The Queen is a masterful biography — empathetic, incisive, and elegantly written that brings Victoria to life as both a monarch and a woman. Julia Baird has not only revived the story of Queen Victoria, but redefined it. It is essential reading for readers interested in British history, women in power, or the human side of royalty.
I give this book 4.5/5.
And before I finish, I must add that the accompanying maps showing the British Empire under Queen Victoria, the Royal residences, the Crimean war, the German and Italian unifications respectively and her family tree are very handy. And the 16 pages of illustrations, mostly in colour, showing the various characters and places in the Queen’s life are very beautifully laid out.
A side note. The Victoria Terminus in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) was named so in honour of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
At the time of recording this book review, the book is available in Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle and Audible formats but for some reason, it is not available in Hardcover format on Amazon India. I have given the respective buy links in the show notes. Please check them out for the latest prices.
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